By Miguel Rivera
In the coming weeks, World Boxing Association President Gilberto Mendoza Jr. is going to issue an order for a mandatory fight between Keith Thurman (28-0, 22 KOs) and Lamont Peterson (35-3-1, 17 KOs).
Thurman, who holds the WBA's "super" title at welterweight, added the WBC world title to his collection on March 4th when he won a twelve round split decision over Danny Garcia at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Peterson, who holds the WBA's "regular" title, secured that belt on February 18th with a twelve round unanimous decision over David Avanesyan at the Cintas Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was Peterson's first fight since a close win over Felix Diaz in October 2015.
The WBA is still working hard to consolidate all of their multiple titles in each weight class, so they want to eliminate the problem of having two welterweight champions as soon as possible.
Because there has been some talk of a potential rematch with Garcia, Mendoza is going give Thurman a few weeks to make a decision before ordering him to fight Peterson next.
Peterson has now gone 4-1 since getting stopped in three rounds by Lucas Matthysse in May of 2013. The sole defeat was a close majority decision to Garcia in April 2015.
Thurman, who made a name for himself with vicious knockout victories, has now become more of a boxer. The heavy handed fighter has only stopped one of his last five opponents.
Peterson hopes the fight can happen next. Thurman's WBC mandatory will be decided next month when Shawn Porter and Andre Berto collide in a final world title eliminator.
"There's also Keith Thurman and Lamont Peterson, which is a mandatory fight, but we know there's a possibility of a rematch with Danny Garcia, so we will give them a deadline to make a decision," said Mendoza to ESPN Deportes.